Quinton Richards (370 words)

Quinton Richards
Professor Jenkins
Social Service Policies
11/20/2017
How changeable is Gender and Gender Identity?
Gender identity is one’s personal experience of one’s own gender. Gender identity can correlate with assigned sex at birth, or can differ from it completely. All societies have a set of gender categories that can serve as the basis of the formation of a person’s social identity in relation to other members of society. In most societies, there is a basic division between gender attributes assigned to males and females. a gender binary to which most people ad here and which includes expectations of masculinity and femininity in all aspects of sex and gender, biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression. In all societies, some individuals do not identify with some or all the aspects of gender that are assigned to their biological sex, some of those individuals are transgender, genderqueer or non-binary. There are some societies that have third gender categories.

Core gender identity is usually formed by age three or after age three, it is extremely difficult to change and attempts to reassign it can result in gender dysphoria. Both biological and social factors have been suggested to influence its formation. One’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither or how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.

To understand gender identity development and related issues, definitions must be emphasized for clarity. The topic of gender identity is often discussed merely in terms of dysfunction, and the diagnosis of gender identity disorder is a known phenomenon in both children and adults. However, physicians should remember that all individuals possess a gender identity and that the process of becoming aware of it is an important part of the psychosocial development of a child. In the realm of pediatrics, recognition of gender identity is a process rather than a milestone, and variance from societal norms can cause distress to both the child and the child’s family. It is necessary to understand the varied pathways that lead to a mature and congruent gender role to fully assess a person’s behavioral health.